Can you think about an instance where you had exceptional customer service, I mean that over-the-top service that happens once every blue moon?  An experience like non-other where you felt you had your own personal assistant who treated you with respect, had a great attitude, valued your presence, and made you feel more important than a million dollar customer?  An associate who dedicated their time, effort, and attention to your needs all because they wanted to make you happy?  How about an associate who did more than you asked for or provided money saving options?  The point is to remember a moment of gratification and extreme satisfaction, a personal service massage if you will where your ego, self confidence, and trust were all heightened by the experience.  Now, would you agree with the following: you would want that experience everywhere you went and if you walked into your store and could service yourself, you would follow the description above?  That is the rule to live by.  Service customers the same way you would want to be serviced.  This means focusing all your attention, willingness, and commitment to the customer to put on a service performance like none other, every time.  One could argue that other tasks or job functions with deadlines are far more important than providing an exceptional customer service experience, so why not just give mediocre service that fills the customer’s need?  The answer is because mediocre service does not retain customers, mediocre service is not satisfying, mediocre service does not exceed expectations, and most importantly, mediocre service does not allow your company to differentiate itself from the competition.  That is the goal, to differentiate yourself by showing your customers, even though you have the same products or services as your competition, they are more valued and appreciated at your company.  As a consumer, if one company does not separate themselves from the rest, you will not show loyalty to anyone and will go to the company with the best price.  What if there was one standout dedicated company that always provided amazing prompt service that always satisfied you.  Wouldn’t you go there more often than a non-service friendly company who did not care about their customers, even if they had lower prices?  Most consumers do not want to be hassled or become frustrated, even if that means giving up price breaks or discounts.  One would pay more for a relaxing and enjoyable experience over a stressful unpleasant one. 

To sum up, in order to create loyal, repeat customers, you have to excel in your customer service.  There is nothing more powerful in your quest to build your client base then to give incredible experiences every time a customer buys from your company.  All companies love the term “growth.”  In order to grow, the misconception is that you only have to acquire new customers.  That is true to an extent, but the term grow is defined by adding to what you already have.  What good is it to bring in five new customers when you just lost ten customers the week before?  Since the goal of your company is to grow, you have to make sure you are acquiring new customers while retaining the ones you already have.  How do you do that?  By treating every customer the same way you would treat yourself.  Here some questions you should ask yourself before servicing a customer:

• How can I provide the best possible service experience for this customer?
• What are their needs and expectations?
• How is my attitude?
• Is all my attention focused on this one customer?
• Am I asking for feedback to better understand them?
• Am I being resourceful?
• Am I being accommodating and flexible?
• Is this customer having a great experience?
• Did I fulfill their needs?
• Did I suggest other services or products that could benefit them?
• Did I ask for feedback on their experience?
• Did the customer leave satisfied?
• Was the service I provided good enough to invoke repeat business from that customer?
• What could I have done better to produce a better customer experience?

You can take my advice and treat every customer the way you would like to be treated, or as someone once told me, treat every customer like a best friend you haven’t seen in 20 years.